Tutors in higher education institutions often face the challenge of aligning learning outcomes, subject matters, instructional activities, and assessment practices. Drawing from a decade of teaching experience, the authors employ practical action research (PAR) to develop a common anchor for achieving alignment. Their project unfolds in three…

It is one of the biggest structural obstacles preventing students from progressing through their degree paths, particularly for students of color. The common practice of rolling over the schedule from semester to semester enables these barriers to recur unchecked and contributes to gaps in degree completion. Through AASCU's work with the Academic…

This paper discusses the merits of developing a high school semester time-table, or schedule, as the final planning stage in the educational process. Such a schedule would provide a weekly breakdown list of all academic subjects, grade levels, teachers for each subject and grade, rooms, laboratories and other facilities, and resources, thereby…

This report examines academic calendars at Illinois' institutions of higher education and presents data for the 12 public universities on the number of instructional days as well as the number of days that instruction was not offered during the 1992-93 academic year. Data are also presented on the academic calendars of samples of Illinois public…

Currently, 30 California community colleges have adopted flexible calendars, which permit up to 15 of the 175 days of legally required faculty service to be used for authorized non-instructional activities. A broad range of flex activities are authorized under Title V of the State Education Code, including staff development or in-service training,…

In an effort to determine the most effective school calendar system, a task force was formed at Pennsylvania's Reading Area Community College to examine the advantages and disadvantages of converting from the college's current term calendar to a semester system. The task force examined the experiences of 11 other institutions that had undergone…

Scheduling concerns such as how to keep instructors teaching in the areas for which they are qualified and how to allow for elective offerings in a student's schedule led North Cache Middle School, a year-round education school serving grades 8 and 9 in Richmond, Utah, to explore a number of solutions. Seven solutions are examined along with…